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Last Minute Purchase Saves Injured Traveler A Fortune
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (September 19, 2005) – A $295 membership saved a Boulder, Colorado woman from a $58,000 air ambulance bill. In August, Barbara Leutwiler slipped and shattered her kneecap while traveling in a remote area of Brazil. Two days before she left for the South American vacation, Leutwiler purchased a membership from Birmingham-based Air Ambulance Card. Within hours of her accident, the company was finalizing arrangements to dispatch an air ambulance to Brazil to bring Leutwiler and her husband home to Colorado for surgery.

“We were in a third-world country. You do not want to have that kind of surgery in those conditions, especially when you don’t speak the language,” said Leutwiler. “You need to be close to home, close to your doctors, not only for surgery, but for the recovery.”

Leutwiler was in Anapolis, two hours outside Brazil’s capital, Brasilia. The day before her 59th birthday, she was on her way to breakfast when she slipped on a wet tile floor and broke her kneecap. “They didn’t even have ice to keep the swelling down,” said Leutwiler. Adding to the severity of the situation, Leutwiler had suffered a heart attack three years earlier. Because of the language barrier, she was having trouble communicating with doctors about the danger if given the wrong medicine.

Hospital staffers also did not know how to dial out of the country. Leutwiler’s husband had an international operator connect him with Air Ambulance Card who handled everything. Within six hours, they had obtained the necessary visas, clearances and permits in order to dispatch the jet and medical team.

Air medical transport protection included in some standard travel insurance policies will transport to the nearest, appropriate hospital. “Some companies would have said the hospital in Brasilia was adequate, or maybe would have flown her to Rio,” said Stan Bradley, executive vice president of Air Ambulance Card. “We fly members to the hospital of their choice.” For Barbara Leutwiler, that was in Boulder, Colorado. The flight would have cost her $58,000 out of pocket. “They would have to pay their membership fee for 197 years to recoup the cost of this flight,” said Sam Jackson, president of Air Ambulance Card.

Leutwiler is recovering at home. Once she is well, she plans to travel overseas again. Of course her Air Ambulance Card will be the first thing she packs. “I am forever grateful that there is a service like this out there,” said Leutwiler. “If I didn’t have it, I would still be there recovering.”

Air Ambulance Card provides travelers with hospital-to-hospital Prepaid Air Ambulance Service domestically and abroad. The membership program offers services for a period of one year to families or individuals, and corporate accounts. Air Ambulance Card memberships are available to residents of the U.S. and Canada and cost $195 per year for individuals and $295 per year for families. For more information visit www.AirAmbulanceCard.com.

[PDF] Brazil Transport